Ricardo Salazar bet everything on a struggling Greeley AM station in 1997 and turned it into “El Tigre,” one of Northern Colorado’s best-known Spanish-language stations.
Career
Salazar was a Los Angeles–based radio consultant and a former Spanish-language voice of the Raiders. In 1997 he bought KGRE 1450, then on the air only 10 hours a day and losing money, for $150,000, using his life savings and maxing out seven credit cards. He relaunched it as regional Mexican “El Tigre,” and it was profitable by the end of the year. By 2006 it was bringing in more than $600,000 a year and growing 20 to 30 percent annually.
He went on to add KGRE-FM 102.1 and KFCS in Colorado Springs. He died in 2018 at 67, and his daughter Lindsay Salazar continues to run the station.
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Career Moments
Ricardo Salazar buys KGRE and launches “El Tigre”
1997 — Ricardo Salazar bought Greeley's struggling KGRE 1450 for $150,000, using his life savings and seven maxed-out credit cards, and relaunched it as regional Mexican “El Tigre.” It was in the black by the end of the year.
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